APUSH Civil War Reconstruction

Habeas Corpus

The legal rule that anyone imprisoned must be taken before a judge to determine if the prisoner is being legally held in custody.

Emancipation Proclamation

Issued in 1863, ordered slaves freed in the Confederate states, turning the Civil War into a war to free the slaves.

Jefferson Davis

Served as president of the Confederacy during the Civil War.

Ulysses S. Grant

Won victories in the West and was eventually promoted to command all Union forces in the Civil War.

Robert E. Lee

Commander of the Confederate army known as a respected and effective general.

William T. Sherman

Union general best known for winning the Battle of Atlanta and for his march to the sea through Georgia.

Thomas 'Stonewall' Jackson

One of the Confederacy’s best generals who died in battle in 1863.

Battle of Antietam

A battle in September 1862 that was militarily a draw, but Lee retreated after suffering losses, giving the Union a moral victory.

Battle of Gettysburg

A bloody battle in July 1863 that was a turning point in the east as the Confederacy never seriously threatened Union territory again.

Battle of Vicksburg

Grant leads the Union to victory in July 1863, giving the North control of the Mississippi River.

Battle of Atlanta

A battle from July to September 1864 where Sherman captured and burned much of Atlanta, aiding Lincoln’s re-election.

Gettysburg Address

A famous speech by President Lincoln dedicating a military cemetery at the battlefield.

Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address

Called for a smooth reunification of the nation with non-revenge based principles.

Presidential Reconstruction

Lincoln and Johnson’s program that aimed to quickly readmit Confederate states without revenge.

Radical Republican Reconstruction

When Congress took control of Reconstruction, militarily occupying the South and imposing tougher demands.

13th Amendment

Abolished slavery.

14th Amendment

Defined citizenship and guaranteed equal protection and due process.

15th Amendment

Voting rights could not be restricted based on race, color, or being a slave.

Morehouse College

A historically black college founded in 1867 in Atlanta.

Freedmen’s Bureau

Helped former slaves transition to freedom by providing food, clothing, jobs, medicine, and education.

Andrew Johnson’s Impeachment

Johnson was impeached for ignoring a law limiting presidential power, but survived removal by one vote.

Black Codes

Laws to control the lives of freed slaves similar to how slaveholders controlled enslaved people.

Sharecropping

A system where farmers work the land of wealthy landowners in exchange for keeping a portion of the crops.

Ku Klux Klan

A secret society that used violence to limit voting and rights of freed African Americans.